A federal appeals court has upheld an injunction blocking an Indiana law that requires women to get an ultrasound and wait 18 hours before seeking an abortion.

A three-member panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld a prior court's ruling that the waiting period imposes an "undue burden" on women.

"Women, like all humans, are intellectual creatures with the ability to reason, consider, ponder and challenge their own ideas and those of others," Judge Ilana Rovner wrote in the 51-page ruling. "The usual manner in which we seek to persuade is by rhetoric not barriers."

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Thousands rally for women's rights on the south lawn of the Indiana State House on April 9, 2016. The rally, in response to a controversial new Indiana abortion bill, is designed to bring together women and the men who support them who all believe that women should have the right to decide what to do with their bodies without government intrusion.(Photo: Matt Kryger / IndyStar)

Indiana Right to Life President and CEO Mike Fichter said the judges were "playing politics" by blocking the law and he hopes the Indiana attorney general's office appeals the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Sadly," Fichter said in a written statement, "many women will proceed with having an abortion without ever seeing the humanity of their unborn babies on display through ultrasound imaging. Abortion providers continue doing everything they can to block women from being fully informed prior to an abortion decision."

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill said he is reviewing the decision.

The ACLU filed the case on behalf of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky. They argued an 18-hour wait would force women to take two days off work and pay for additional travel or overnight lodging expenses.

“The ruling affirms that deeply personal decisions about abortion should be made by women in consultation with their doctors, not politicians pursuing an extreme ideological agenda,” Jane Henegar, executive director of the ACLU of Indiana, said in a written statement.

ACLU of Indiana legal director Ken Falk called the ruling "a victory for women and another repudiation of the unnecessary and unconstitutional attempts by Indiana politicians to interfere with women’s reproductive rights.”

A Pro-Life poster is shown in the back window of a car on February 10, 2013. Abortion is still a top social issue 40 years after Roe V. Wade legalized the procedure. Supporters of abortion rights are known as being Pro-Choice. Another sign in this window plays off that label, using the words, Choose Life. Charlie Nye / The Star.